Re Animator (1985) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

We all know our lives end after death, but what if we can change that?


PLOT


Based on HP Lovecraft’s short story, Re-Animator follows scientist Herbert West transfer from the Unviersity of Zurich to Miskatonic University when being caught trying to resurrect a dead professor where the side effects of his drugs lead to constant aggressive nature upon reawakening. He rents a room from fellow medical student Daniel Cain, but he doesn’t tell him of his experiments until he gets caught reanimating his pet cat Rufus. He shows him how it works, only to leave his girlfriend Megan Halsey terrified upon walking in. This leads to Dan alerting her father, Dean Alan, of what West is up to, only for him to barr them both, believing they’ve both gone mad. Wanting to salvage their careers, Dan and West later sneak into a morgue to prove the case. However, one corpse goes frenetic and kills the dean when he catches him trespassing. West would kill the corpse with a buzz saw, but would quickly reanimate the Dean with his drug who returns in a zombie like state. When Megan walks in on the commotion, Dan collapses in shock. When Alan’s  colleague, Carl Hill, takes charge of him, he chooses to lobotomize him to understand West had done. He tries blackmailing him into taking the credit for all the work, only for West to kill him as well, decapitating his head with a shovel. He then chooses to reanimate both his head and body separately, but when he falls asleep, they take advantage in stealing his notes back to the office. Through his reanimated state, he learns that the lobotomy state allows him to telepathically control the undead like Alan. He proves it when using the latter to bring Megan to his office. She collapses upon arriving and he takes this time to strap her down and try sexually assaulting until West & Dan intervene. As Dan frees Megan, Hill reveals to have already reanimated & lobotomized other corpses in the hospital, using them to attack. Dan fends them off as much as possible, especially when Megan’s voice reawakens her father’s protectiveness enough to destroy Hill’s head and later gets torn to pieces by the other zombies. During this conflict, West tries overdosing Hill’s body, but it mutates and pins him down with its entrails. Another zombie chases down Dan & Megan to the elevator, successfully strangling the latter to death before her boyfriend can rekill it. Unable to resuscitate her back, he uses West’s drug and the film fades to black as she screams upon revival.


THOUGHTS


I always thought I had seen it all when it came to zombies because they’re either real slow or real damn fast. Writer/Director Stuart Gordon brought a big shakeup in the 80s by showing exactly what happens when we try to control life itself. And in turn, it’s a ballistic shitstorm of an experiment in the best way imaginable. John Naulin & Sharon A. Long succeed in creating out of world effects for the zombies that differ from what had been done in George Romero’s work at that point because while it is one thing to see a strong zombie be defeated by a buzzsaw, it’s another to see one carrying its own head, as well as see a zombie cat get out of control. They even get all the more bonkers seeing mutated entrails emerge due to an overdose. Going back to the point of this sci fi extravaganza, people can still be blown away of this story decades later because it is extremely unrestrained when it comes to wanting to being the decade’s answer to Frankenstein, showing the consequences of what happens when it comes to forcing the unnatural to be normal that is resurrection. We all wish we can try to last longer than we’re supposed to in terms of avoiding death, but just because there could be a chance to do so does not mean it should happen. Death is scary, but what can be scarier is overstaying welcome, thus the instant fear to feel when zombies could exist controlled or not. With the array of characters that uncover what was meant to be unknown, it indeed gets the message across some things are better left alone. To this day, everyone is enamored with Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West because his arrogance makes him very amoral to the point where he kept secret that he got his roommate’s car killed and impulsively killed his professor to keep the glory for himself. If killing becomes instinct, that is not the kind of person to be around when the going gets tough. Time after time, he thinks he is in control with every body he can get his hands on until those entrails proved he lost it the moment he thought of reanimation. With sequels that came overtime, his story wasn’t over and it only proved it took much longer for the message across on his end. And if you thought he was the villain for being reckless, I’m gonna give that credit to Hill because he was a total cheater in the long run wanting to take another man’s credit for himself, hating that his past work makes him outdated as West claimed. And because he steals such power, his decision to be lustful blows up in his face. The only one that seemed to be in the middle was Dan because he started out cautious upon what he discovered and became reluctant in joining in on the breakthrough due to desperation in terms of maintain success as well. The only time he truly invested is when it came to wanting to save who he loved, which many would relate to because loss is the most unbearable feeling. Before going forward in resurrection, there was no doubt he had unconditional love for Megan because Barbara Crampton was the strongest voice of reason. The second she saw the unusual, she knew it wasn’t right and was always against whatever can come from it. On top of that, the mutual feeling ran in the family because before becoming a zombie slave, Robert Sampson was also likable as Alan for being in realistically narrow minded when it came to hearing the impossible become possible and responded by expulsion. That’s the most ideal thing a dean can do because there is no need for any gifted scientist go mad just to prove they have an inventive mind. It is questionable on if his death was in vein because his daughter still went through such hell once the screen faded to black and Bride of Re Animator follows the aftermath. Nevertheless, Dan & West had a long journey ahead of them as they struggle leave alone power that should’ve never uncovered. In conclusion, Re Animator is a fantastic sci fi horror flick for knowing exactly how to test the waters in what reality was ever meant to be. If those are the kind of movies you’re looking for, see this now.